Ho Chi Minh City: Tour guides adapt after administrative boundary merger

The merger of administrative boundaries expands the space for tourism development, while also placing new requirements on the tour guide team in terms of knowledge, skills, connectivity and information updating. This is the time when the tourism industry needs to standardize the tour guide team to adapt to the opportunities and challenges in a larger development space.

The tour guide is explaining to the tourists.

New space, new opportunities

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, the merger has helped the city form a diverse destination ecosystem, expand the tour organization area and create conditions for tour guides to promote their creativity in explaining content. At each destination, the tour guide will tell a story related to space and time, helping visitors better understand the characteristics of the destination. This will be a great opportunity for the tour guide team to learn and develop more professional skills.

However, this opportunity also comes with many challenges. The first challenge is the change in administrative names and adjustment of geographical boundaries, forcing tour guides to update their knowledge and identify cultural and historical spaces, which have become more complex. Many traditional explanations need to be reviewed, adjusted or changed to suit the new reality. Furthermore, official documents on routes, tourist maps, names of relics and new administrative geography have not been fully updated. Some newly merged communes have limited infrastructure for welcoming visitors, affecting the experience of visitors and the effectiveness of tour guiding.

Associate Professor Dr. Pham Trung Luong, tourism research expert, former Deputy Director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research, said that the merger of boundaries is an opportunity for Ho Chi Minh City to restructure the tourism space in a sustainable and specialized direction. However, success or failure largely depends on the preparation of the tour guide team. These are the people who convey local values to tourists. They not only need new knowledge but also the ability to adapt to the spaces that intersect between urban and rural areas, between old and new.

Similarly, Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh, a tourism expert, said that after the expansion of its administrative boundaries, Ho Chi Minh City is not only a major economic center but also a rich "cultural-historical map", stretching from modern urban areas to traditional rural areas. This requires tour guides to update their comprehensive knowledge, not only about the destination but also about the history of urbanization and the development process of the Saigon - Gia Dinh - Ho Chi Minh City area. Without a solid cultural and social foundation, it is difficult for tour guides to fully convey the value of new tour routes.

"Therefore, to improve the knowledge of tour guides, training institutions and professional associations need to quickly design in-depth training programs for the expanded Ho Chi Minh City area. These training courses include many contents about heritage values, new landmarks, and specialized tour guiding skills, so that the tour guide force is capable of meeting the increasing demands of domestic and foreign tourists," said Dr. Nguyen Van Dinh.

According to Ms. Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, the merger of administrative boundaries not only changes management but also creates opportunities for unified planning and development of interconnected tourist routes and destinations. This is a great opportunity to diversify tourism products, but also requires tour guides to update their knowledge, especially information on new locations, to avoid errors in explanations. Some traditional tours may have to adjust their routes or times due to changes in administrative boundaries.

Standardize human resources, enhance connectivity

Not only facing the problem of updating new content and knowledge, travel businesses also warn about the risk of inconsistency if there is no timely coordination between management agencies and tour guides in standardizing information. Many businesses have proactively reviewed tour scenarios, especially inter-regional routes and local cultural experiences. Organizing internal training is considered an urgent solution to improve the quality of explanations and update historical - cultural - geographical knowledge to suit the new situation.

Ms. Tran Thi Minh Tuyet, CEO of a travel company in Ho Chi Minh City, said: “We hope to receive more official tourist maps and new regional planning from the authorities. This is the foundation for businesses to build professional and synchronous products to update official information for their tour guide team.”

Cu Chi Tunnels Historical Site tour guide gives gifts to visitors.

According to Mr. Nguyen Khoa Luan, General Director of Anh Viet Hop On Hop Off Vietnam Co., Ltd., after the merger, the development direction of city tour routes is no longer limited to the inner city but is expanding to satellite urban areas. This requires a team of tour guides who are knowledgeable about local culture, have modern customer service skills and flexible capacity for long journeys.

“We are implementing training “ordering” programs from human resource supply facilities. At the same time, the company is expanding the space for practical experience and connecting destinations to gradually standardize the tour guide team according to international ISO standards,” Mr. Luan added.

Nowadays, technology is also considered a factor supporting tour guides in the transformation process. Integrating new geographic data into digital maps, applying artificial intelligence in itinerary design, and using smart cities to forecast tourist behavior are trends that are receiving investment attention.

According to Ms. Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu, tour guides also need to be positioned as a “bridge” between management agencies, businesses and local communities. To do that, they must continuously receive in-depth training in history, culture, ethnology, and at the same time access official information on tourism planning and new locations after the merger.

Ho Chi Minh City currently has 681 potential resources for tourism development, with favorable conditions for expansion from urban to rural areas, from culture to nature after the merger. However, this is only truly valuable if the tour guide team is standardized in knowledge, skills and always updated with modern tourism trends. When perfecting skills and improving qualifications, tour guides will affirm their professional position in the tourism industry of Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Tin Tuc newspaper

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/tp-ho-chi-minh-huong-dan-vien-du-lich-thich-ung-sau-sap-nhap-dia-gioi-hanh-chinh-2025080410272658.htm